For Emily
by wherearetherobots
Summary: A gift for my dear friend, EmilyCastrov. Inspired by the song, "everything i wanted" by Billie Eilish.


_Oof I am sorry I couldn't come up with a legitimate title. Please don't set me on fire for that XD Anyway, this fic involves my friend, Emily_Castrov's oc and her own fanfic. This may not make a whole heck of a lot of sense if you haven't read her stuff. If you haven't, you should definitely check it out!_

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She was very popular, and very much loved. She gained fame and fortune from saving the galaxy from certain destruction. Because of this, she gave hope to everyone of every species across the universe. The safety of every individual lay in the hands of an ambitious, inexperienced yet successful young lady.

Nova Albedo never could have imagined becoming the universe's most beloved hero. The day she was born she was given the soul of the universe's previous beloved hero, Ratchet. She didn't understand how or why she was subjected to it, but she handled it like any hero would have.

Multiple news stories covered how amazingly strong and skilled Nova was, how her heart was big enough to love and care for every being she came across. Not a single person had anything negative to say about her. All she received was love and support.

At first, all the fame and attention was overwhelming. As a Markazian who grew up on Quantos, Nova's life turning out anything like this had never crossed her mind. Although she was certain Ratchet felt the same way when he was her age. If he made it by just fine, so could she. She was his reincarnation, after all.

Even with all the positivity, Nova still had doubts about herself. She rarely ever slept a full night of sleep due to thinking about all the other possibilities in her life. Who would she be without the connection to Ratchet? Would she have still saved the galaxy? Or would the galaxy be doomed? She would shrug it off as an unnecessary thought. The galaxy was at peace thanks to her. That's all that mattered.

One day, Nova hopped into her ship and flew away from home. She didn't know why, but she felt like she needed to get away for the day. In the middle of her flight, her normally well-functioning ship's engine began to make a horrendous noise. Before Nova had any time to react, the ship started going down. It happened so fast, she had no time to make a distress signal for help. The ship crashed on the ground and burst into flames.

News outlets broadcasted Nova's death all over the galaxy. Although instead of describing Nova as the hero she was, the talk show hosts only referred to her as a "Markazian teen" or "Ratchet's reincarnation". No one said her name.

Random people were interviewed several times for each news outlet. Each person who was interviewed only had negative responses about Nova's unexpected death. "I was shocked. Shocked that a 'hero' could die so easily!" One man stated. "Hero of the galaxy? Ha! I knew it was too good to be true." Many other people had the exact same or similar thoughts. Mostly criticism for Nova and how she was nowhere near as heroic as Ratchet was.

Nova's gravestone was simple and very small, much like everyone else's. All that was engraved on her stone was her name, date of birth, and her date of death. She was buried right next to where Ratchet was. Ratchet's gravestone was tall and had a long description of everything he did for the universe and how loved he was by everyone.

After that image played in her head, Nova felt herself quickly falling over backwards. She shot awake and gasped before sitting upright. At the foot of her bed was her dear friend, Clank. He sat with his feet dangling off the side with his attention focused on Nova. She brushed her curly hair out of her face. "Why are you awake?" She asked.

Clank answered with a question, "Why are _you_ awake?"

"Oh. Uhm…" Nova straightened her seating position and rubbed her eyes. "I guess I was just dreaming."

"'Just dreaming'?" Clank tilted his head. "Nova, you have been twitching and kicking profusely all night. At an earlier point, I heard you whining in your sleep."

Nova's cheeks turned red. As she felt her face burned, she was glad her room was so dark, otherwise Clank would've definitely seen her blushing. Then she wondered if he could see in the dark. Her mind got back on track to the current conversation. "I'm sorry if I woke you up." she said. "It was a bad dream."

She kept her eyes off Clank the whole time he spoke to her. The last bits of her dream wouldn't stop replaying in her head. Nova's chest tightened and her throat heated up. Clank scooted himself backwards on Nova's bed and slowly walked closer to where she was sitting. "Would you like to talk about it?" He asked as his bright green eyes blinked.

The look on his innocent face was too cute to say 'no' to. Nova folded her hands in her lap and took a deep breath. "I had a dream that I defeated Nefarious and the whole galaxy knew my name." She tilted her chin upwards and let her eyes wander as she tried to remember other details. "Everyone loved me. I mean, _everyone_ loved me. The galaxy was at peace for the first time in years because of me. Then I suddenly died and… nobody cared."

Clank sat perfectly still as Nova told him about her dream. He could see the amount of distress in her eyes and hear it in her voice. Nova continued, "No one cared that the 'hero of the galaxy' had died. No one cared that Nova Albedo the Markazian had died young. If anything, people said they were disappointed I was nothing like Ratchet. I was buried next to him but even my tombstone didn't compare to his."

Nova let out a soft 'ha' and smiled as she shook her head, "It was just a stupid dream."

"Do you ever actually feel that way sometimes?" Clank asked.

"Feel like what?"

"Feel that you do not compare to Ratchet? As a hero? As a friend?"

Nova's smile disappeared. Her head sunk and she slouched. She nodded without making a sound. Clank moved a bit closer and reached out to gently touch her forearm. "You may have been reincarnated from Ratchet, but you are not him." Clank began. "You are Nova. And you are a good friend and will be a great hero."

"But what if I'm not?" Nova doubted, her voice started to crack, "What if I can't protect the galaxy like he could? He's been gone for so long now, and nobody before or after him was anywhere near as good as he was. I can't replace him. Not as a hero or as a friend."

Clank's fingers slightly curled on Nova's arm. He waited until she made eye contact with him before he decided to speak, "You are not a replacement. You are Nova. You do not have the exact same skills or personality as Ratchet, and that is okay."

The feeling in Nova's chest went from tight and heavy to warm and light. Clank continued, "I do miss him greatly, but that is in the past. I have you now. You are a very good friend and will make an amazing hero. You- You already are a hero."

Nova smiled so big she flashed her teeth. She silently laughed blissfully as she brought Clank in for a hug. "I can see why Ratchet was always so good at everything." She said while hugging Clank.

"Why is that?" He asked.

Nova broke the hug to look at Clank. "Because he had a friend like you."

The two made eye contact for a second before laughing as loudly as their tired minds could allow. "I'm serious." Said Nova. "Ratchet was a ball of chaos and had the most stressful life ever. But because of you, he never went crazy."

"Oh, he was crazy at times. Ehehehe."

"Okay, so he didn't go _completely_ crazy. And it was because he had you. And now I have you. Even with all this pressure on me, deep down I know everything will be okay. Because you're in my life. I'm sorry. Is that weird?"

"No. Not weird at all." Clank didn't take his gaze off Nova as she laid back down on her pillow with a full grin on her face.

"I'm the reincarnation of the greatest hero ever, I have his amazing best friend as my own best friend, and we're going to save the galaxy together soon." Nova said as she stared up at the ceiling. She looked back at Clank, "Thank you. For everything."

"Of course." Clank smiled. "I am glad we know each other."

"Me too."


End file.
